diff options
| author | Jacob McDonnell <jacob@jacobmcdonnell.com> | 2026-04-25 19:55:15 -0400 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Jacob McDonnell <jacob@jacobmcdonnell.com> | 2026-04-25 19:55:15 -0400 |
| commit | 253e67c8b3a72b3a4757fdbc5845297628db0a4a (patch) | |
| tree | adf53b66087aa30dfbf8bf391a1dadb044c3bf4d /static/netbsd/man5/crontab.5 | |
| parent | a9157ce950dfe2fc30795d43b9d79b9d1bffc48b (diff) | |
docs: Added All NetBSD Manuals
Diffstat (limited to 'static/netbsd/man5/crontab.5')
| -rw-r--r-- | static/netbsd/man5/crontab.5 | 421 |
1 files changed, 421 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/static/netbsd/man5/crontab.5 b/static/netbsd/man5/crontab.5 new file mode 100644 index 00000000..dcf2aaad --- /dev/null +++ b/static/netbsd/man5/crontab.5 @@ -0,0 +1,421 @@ +.\" $NetBSD: crontab.5,v 1.11 2022/02/26 17:02:47 christos Exp $ +.\" +.\"/* Copyright 1988,1990,1993,1994 by Paul Vixie +.\" * All rights reserved +.\" */ +.\" +.\" Copyright (c) 2004 by Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC") +.\" Copyright (c) 1997,2000 by Internet Software Consortium, Inc. +.\" +.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any +.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above +.\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies. +.\" +.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND ISC DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES +.\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF +.\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL ISC BE LIABLE FOR +.\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES +.\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN +.\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT +.\" OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE. +.\" +.\" $OpenBSD: crontab.5,v 1.36 2018/06/13 13:27:37 jmc Exp $ +.\" +.Dd February 26, 2022 +.Dt CRONTAB 5 +.Os +.Sh NAME +.Nm crontab +.Nd tables for driving cron +.Sh DESCRIPTION +A +.Nm +file contains instructions to the +.Xr cron 8 +daemon of the general form: +.Dq at these times on these dates run this command . +There may be a system +.Nm +and each user may have their own +.Nm . +Commands in any given +.Nm +will be +executed either as the user who owns the +.Nm +or, in the case of the system +.Nm crontab , +as the user specified on the command line. +.Pp +While a +.Nm +is a text file, it is not intended to be directly edited. +Creation, modification, and removal of a +.Nm +should be done using +.Xr crontab 1 . +.Pp +Blank lines, leading spaces, and tabs are ignored. +Lines whose first non-space character is a pound sign +.Pq Ql # +are comments, and are ignored. +Note that comments are not allowed on the same line as +.Xr cron 8 +commands, since +they will be taken to be part of the command. +Similarly, comments are not +allowed on the same line as environment variable settings. +.Pp +An active line in a +.Nm +is either an environment variable setting or a +.Xr cron 8 +command. +.Pp +Environment variable settings create the environment +any command in the +.Nm +is run in. +An environment variable setting is of the form: +.Pp +.Dl name = value +.Pp +The spaces around the equal sign +.Pq Ql = +are optional, and any subsequent non-leading spaces in +.Ar value +will be part of the value assigned to +.Ar name . +The +.Ar value +string may be placed in quotes +.Pq single or double , but matching +to preserve leading or trailing blanks. +.Pp +Lines in the system +.Nm +have six fixed fields plus a command, in the form: +.Bd -ragged -offset indent +.Ar minute +.Ar hour +.Ar day-of-month +.Ar month +.Ar day-of-week +.Ar user +.Ar command +.Ed +.Pp +While lines in a user +.Nm +have five fixed fields plus a command, in the form: +.Bd -ragged -offset indent +.Ar minute +.Ar hour +.Ar day-of-month +.Ar month +.Ar day-of-week +.Ar command +.Ed +.Pp +Fields are separated by blanks or tabs. +The command may be one or more fields long. +The allowed values for the fields are: +.Bl -column "day-of-month" "allowed values" -offset indent +.It Sy field Ta Sy allowed values +.It Ar minute Ta * or 0\(en59 +.It Ar hour Ta * or 0\(en23 +.It Ar day-of-month Ta * or 1\(en31 +.It Ar month Ta * or 1\(en12 or a name (see below) +.It Ar day-of-week Ta * or 0\(en7 or a name (0 or 7 is Sunday) +.It Ar user Ta a valid username +.It Ar command Ta text +.El +.Pp +Lists are allowed. +A list is a set of numbers (or ranges) separated by commas. +For example, +.Dq 1,2,5,9 +or +.Dq 0\(en4,8\(en12 . +.Pp +Ranges of numbers are allowed. +Ranges are two numbers separated with a hyphen. +The specified range is inclusive. +For example, +8\(en11 for an +.Ar hour +entry specifies execution at hours 8, 9, 10 and 11. +.Pp +A field may begin with a question mark +.Pq Sq \&? , +which indicates a single value randomly selected when the crontab +file is read. +If the field contains only a question mark, the value is randomly +selected from the range of all possible values for the field. +If the question mark precedes a range, the value is randomly selected +from the range. +For example, +.Dq ? ?2-5 * * * +specifies that a task will be performed daily between 2:00am and +and 5:59am at a time randomly selected when the crontab file is +first read. +As just one example, this feature can be used to prevent a large +number of hosts from contacting a server simultaneously and +overloading it by staggering the time at which a download script +is executed. +.Pp +Step values can be used in conjunction with ranges (but not random ranges +which represent a single number). +Following a range with +.No / Ns Ar number +specifies skips of +.Ar number +through the range. +For example, +.Dq 0\(en23/2 +can be used in the +.Ar hour +field to specify command execution every other hour. +Steps are also permitted after an asterisk, so to say +.Dq every two hours , +just use +.Dq */2 . +.Pp +An asterisk +.Pq Ql * +is short form for a range of all allowed values. +.Pp +Names can be used in the +.Ar month +and +.Ar day-of-week +fields. +Use the first three letters of the particular +day or month (case doesn't matter). +Ranges or lists of names are not allowed. +.Pp +The +.Ar command +field (the rest of the line) is the command to be +run. +The entire command portion of the line, up to a newline or % +character, will be executed by +.Pa /bin/sh +or by the shell +specified in the +.Ev SHELL +variable of the +.Nm crontab . +Percent signs +.Pq Ql % +in the command, unless escaped with a backslash +.Pq Ql \e , +will be changed into newline characters, and all data +after the first +.Ql % +will be sent to the command as standard input. +.Pp +Commands may be modified as follows: +.Bl -tag -width Ds +.It Fl n Ar command +No mail is sent after a successful run. +The execution output will only be mailed if the command exits with a non-zero +exit code. +The +.Fl n +option is an attempt to cure potentially copious volumes of mail coming from +.Xr cron 8 . +.It Fl q Ar command +Execution will not be logged. +.It Fl s Ar command +Only a single instance of +.Ar command +will be run concurrently. +Additional instances of +.Ar command +will not be scheduled until the earlier one completes. +.El +.Pp +Commands are executed by +.Xr cron 8 +when the +.Ar minute , +.Ar hour , +and +.Ar month +fields match the current time, +.Em and +when at least one of the two day fields +.Po Ar day-of-month +or +.Ar day-of-week Pc , +match the current time. +.Pp +Note: The day of a command's execution can be specified by two +fields \(em +.Ar day-of-month +and +.Ar day-of-week . +If both fields are restricted (i.e. aren't *), +the command will be run when +.Em either +field matches the current time. +For example, +.Pp +.Dl 30 4 1,15 * 5 +.Pp +would cause a command to be run at 4:30 am on the 1st and 15th of each +month, plus every Friday. +.Pp +Instead of the first five fields, one of eight special strings may appear: +.Bl -column "@midnight" "meaning" -offset indent +.It Sy string Ta Sy meaning +.It @reboot Ta Run once, at startup. +.It @yearly Ta Run every January 1 (0 0 1 1 *). +.It @annually Ta The same as @yearly. +.It @monthly Ta Run the first day of every month (0 0 1 * *). +.It @weekly Ta Run every Sunday (0 0 * * 0). +.It @daily Ta Run every midnight (0 0 * * *). +.It @midnight Ta The same as @daily. +.It @hourly Ta Run every hour, on the hour (0 * * * *). +.El +.Sh ENVIRONMENT +.Bl -tag -width "CRON_WITHIN" +.It Ev CRON_TZ +The +.Ev CRON_TZ +variable can be set to an alternate time zone in order to affect when the job +is run. +Note that this only affects the scheduling of the job, not the time zone +that the job perceives when it is run. +If +.Ev CRON_TZ +is defined but empty +.Pq Ev CRON_TZ Ns = Ns \&"" , +jobs are scheduled with respect to the local time zone. +.It Ev CRON_WITHIN +The +.Ev CRON_WITHIN +variable should indicate the number of seconds within a job's +scheduled time that it should still be run. +For example if a job is scheduled for 12:30pm and +.Ev CRON_WITHIN +is +.Dv 120 +(2 minutes), then the job will not be run if the system attempts +to start it past 12:32pm. +On a heavily loaded system, or on a system that has just been +.Dq woken up , +jobs will sometimes start later than originally intended, and by +skipping non-critical jobs because of delays, system load can be +lightened. +If +.Ev CRON_WITHIN +is defined but empty +.Pq Ev CRON_WITHIN Ns = Ns \&"" , +or set to some non-positive value (0, a negative number, or a +non-numeric string), it is treated as if it was unset, that is +the job will always run, even if it is going to start at a time +long past its scheduled time. +.It Ev HOME +Set from the user's +.Pa /etc/passwd +entry. +May be overridden by settings in the +.Nm . +.It Ev LOGNAME +Set from the user's +.Pa /etc/passwd +entry. +May not be overridden by settings in the +.Nm . +.It Ev MAILTO +If +.Ev MAILTO +is defined and non-empty, +mail is sent to the user so named. +If +.Ev MAILTO +is defined but empty +.Pq Ev MAILTO = Qq , +no mail will be sent. +Otherwise mail is sent to the owner of the +.Nm . +This is useful for pseudo-users that lack an alias +that would otherwise redirect the mail to a real person. +.It Ev SHELL +Set to +.Pa /bin/sh . +May be overridden by settings in the +.Nm . +.It Ev USER +Set from the user's +.Pa /etc/passwd +entry. +May not be overridden by settings in the +.Nm . +.El +.Sh FILES +.Bl -tag -width "/var/cron/tabs/<user>XXX" -compact +.It Pa /etc/crontab +System crontab. +.It Pa /var/cron/tabs/ Ns Aq Ar user +User crontab. +.El +.Sh EXAMPLES +.Bd -literal +# use /bin/sh to run commands, no matter what /etc/passwd says +SHELL=/bin/sh +# mail any output to `paul', no matter whose crontab this is +MAILTO=paul +# +# run five minutes after midnight, every day +5 0 * * * $HOME/bin/daily.job >> $HOME/tmp/out 2>&1 +# run at 2:15pm on the first of every month -- output mailed to paul +15 14 1 * * $HOME/bin/monthly +# run at 10 pm on weekdays, annoy Joe +0 22 * * 1-5 mail -s "It's 10pm" joe%Joe,%%Where are your kids?% +23 0-23/2 * * * echo "run 23 minutes after midn, 2am, 4am ..., everyday" +5 4 * * sun echo "run at 5 after 4 every sunday" +.Ed +.Sh SEE ALSO +.Xr crontab 1 , +.Xr cron 8 +.Sh STANDARDS +The +.Nm +file format is compliant with the +.St -p1003.1-2008 +specification. +The behaviours described below are all extensions to that standard: +.Bl -dash +.It +The +.Ar day-of-week +field may use 7 to represent Sunday. +.It +Ranges may include +.Dq steps . +.It +Months or days of the week can be specified by name. +.It +Mailing after a successful run can be suppressed with +.Fl n . +.It +Logging can be suppressed with +.Fl q . +.It +Environment variables can be set in a crontab. +.It +Command output can be mailed to a person other than the crontab +owner, or the feature can be turned off and no mail will be sent +at all. +.It +All of the +.Ql @ +commands that can appear in place of the first five fields. +.El +.Sh AUTHORS +.Nm +was written by +.An Paul Vixie Aq Mt vixie@isc.org . |
